Automatic switch device.



No. 670,339. Patented Mar. I9, I901. J. CAMPBELL.

AUTOMATIC SWITCH DEVICE.

(Applicstipn filed Jan. (No ModelJ' 2 SheetsSheet Thai NORmS rm'zns qa.nuomuwa, msumamu. n. c.

Patented Mar. l9; 19m.

J. CAMPBELL.

AUTOMATIC SWITCH DEVICE.

(Application filed Jan. 26, 1901.)

2 SheetsSheet 2.

(No Model.)

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UNiTnn STnTns PATENT Trina,

JEREMIAH CAMPBELL, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATIC SWITCH DEVIC E.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of LEtt-GIS Patent N0. 670,339, dated March19, 1901.

Application filed January 26, 1901; Serial No. (N0 modem To a whom, itmay concern:

Be it known that I, JEREMIAH CAMPBELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in AutomaticSwitch Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, in explainingits nature.

The invention relates to means whereby cars actuated or propelled upon acommon track and intended for different destinations automaticallyoperate a switch by which the common track upon which they are isconnected with the branch upon which they should run.

I have represented the invention as applied to the double-cable railwaydescribed in my Letters Patent of the United States No. 542,077, datedJuly 2, 1895. The invention of this patent is illustrated as applied toa means for receiving and transporting coal or other material intram-cars which are drawn by cables first over a track common to bothcables and then over branch tracks which are common to one and overwhich the tram-cars which are operated by that cable only pass, and Ihave herein illustrated as a means for moving the cars two cables, bothof which are common for any desired distance to a single track and arethen individual to a branch track, each cable acting, as in theconstruction of my said patent, to draw the cars attached to it over thesingle or main track and to then draw them over its own branch track. Ihave also represented my present invention as adapted to use the kind oftram-car described in the said patent and as adapted for the samepurpose; but I do not wish to be understood as limiting the invention tothe use of cables as a car-actuating means or to the use of tram-carsalone or to any special purpose.

. I will now describe the invention in detail in conjunction with thedrawings, wherein Figure 1 is a view in plan of a double-cable railwayprovided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a view in vertical section,enlarged, upon the dotted line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a View invertical section and elevation upon the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig.dis a View in vertical'section of a modified form of lever con nection,to which reference is hereinafter made.

. Referring to the drawings, A represents the maintrack section, A onebranch track from same, and A another branch track. In fact, in theconstruction shown the main line runs into the two lines, which I havecalled branches.

B is the cable common to the main track and the branch A, and B is thecable common to the main track and the branch A The cables run parallelwith each other between the rails of the main track and areseparatedfrom each other by any desired means. The grips of the tram-cars arearranged so that the cars which are to take the branch track A havetheirgrips located to engage the cable B,while the cars which take thebranch track A have their grips arranged to engage the cable B. Theseparts are common to my patented construction. I will now describe myimprovement, which I have combined with them.

0 O are the switching-rails, which connect the rails or Ct,respectively, to the main track, either with the rails a a or the railsa a of the two branch tracks. The ends a a of these switching-rails areloosely connected to the ends of the rails a CL of the main track, vpreferably by fish-plates a a", looselyattached by bolts to the webs ofeach pair of abutting railsviz., a a on one side of the track and therails a a on the other side of the track..

The switch-rails are movable bodily from these rails backward or forwardto make connections with either of the branch tracks A A in the usualway and so that their ends a o are either in line with the rails CL2 CLof branch track A or with the rails (t a of the gether. Upon this plateD are metal crossbars 0 G which are fixed to the supportingplate D andupon the surface of which the rails are movable. The switch-rails arealso attached to the movable crossbar 0, arranged over said plate D, andto which the rails are secured by means of metal holders or clips 00,arranged to lap upon the base of the rail and bolted to the movablecross-bar 0. (See Fig. 3.) This movable cross-bar is connected at eachof its outer ends, respectively, with the rock-levers E and E, each ofwhich has the arms 6 and e, and is pivoted to the metal base-plate D.The arms 6 of the rock-levers are connected to the ends of the cross-barO by the links 6 The arm 6 of the rock-lever E is connected with the endf of the switching-lever F by means of a connecting-rod f, pivoted tothe arm (9 of the rock-lever E and to the end f of the lever F. Thelever F is pivoted or fulcrumed at f upon the baseplate D, and itextends beneath the rail (1 of the main track A and is of a length topermit its end f when the lever bears a right-angular relation to thetrack, to cross the line of the cable 13 and to be in line with thecablegrip of the cars which are drawn by the said cable, and in thestructure represented in Fig. 1 I have shown the lever so shaped thatits said end is above the line of the cable, the foundation-plate Dhaving a long slot d in it, through which the lever extends in passingunderneath the rail. The lever is represented as bent downward andupward upon the inner and outer sides of the rail; but I would here saythat I do not confine myself to any special type or form of leverconnection with the actuating and connecting rod f. The arm 6 of therock-lever E is connected by a connecting rod f which is like theconnecting-rodf, with the lever F, which is pivoted to the plate D andwhich is like the lever F and which has its end f when in operativeposition over the cable B and in a position to be actuated by thecontact of the grips of the cablecars which are drawn by the cable Bwith it. In order to govern the position or line of movementof thecables B B and ot' the grips at the time of their engagement or contactwith the said levers F F, I have arranged between the rails a a of themain track A cable and grip guides, one pair of which operate to guidethe grips of the cars drawn by the cable B and the other the grips ofthe cars which are attached to the cable B. The guideways I havelettered G G, respectively. The guideway G is formed by the edge g ofthe metal plate g and the edge g of the metal plate 9 and the guideway Gis formed by the edge g of the metal plate 9 and the edge g of the metalplate g These guiding edges of both guideways are curved outward toprovide flaring or enlarged entrances and g to the guideways G and G,and their rear ends are represented as similarly flared out- The edgeswithin these ends are ward.

straight and parallel with each other and form relatively long narrowsections of the guideway. The endsf f of the levers F F extend across orspan these guideways, but not at the same ti me,as the switch'rails arealways in operative relation with one or the other of the branch tracks;but if not in operative relation with the branch over which the tramcarshould run then the lever which is operated by its grip is the one whichextends across the guideway, through which the grip passes, and uponcontact of the grip of said tram-car with the end of the lever the leveris moved from a position which causes its end to span the guideway to aposition which is inclined in respect to it, and which moves its endfrom the guideway, (see Fig. 1,) and this causes the switch-rails to beautomatically moved to connect the main track with the branch upon whichthe tram-car is to run. This movement of the switch-rails at the sametime moves the other lever from an inoperative position with respecttothe other I guideway to an operative position with regard to it, and sothat it may be moved by the grip of the tram-car which passes throughits guideway, so that when it is necessary the switch'rails may be movedto make connection with the other branch. Of cou rse if the switchrailsare in proper position for shifting a tram-car the operating-lever forthat car does not then span the guideway, but is removed from it, sothat a contactwith the grip does not then ensue.

There may be arranged below the guideplates g g the plates 71 and h,which maybe of the same shape and between which the parts of the leversF F may extend, and the edges of these plates may also serve as guidingedges for the grips, and when they do so serve they preferably have theshape of the edges of the guiding-plates g g. Their main purpose,however, is to support the ends of the levers and prevent their beingturned down upon contact of the grips with them. These guiding andsupporting plates are represented as mounted upon metal pedestals orsupports which are rigidly bolted to the baseplate D, the plates g andIt being supported by and bolted to the pedestal H, the plate beingsupported by and bolted to the central pedestal H, and the plates g andIt being supported by and bolted to the pedestal H The plate g it willbe seen, is centrally disposed between the plates g and g and one edgeforms the side of the guideway G and its other edge a side of theguideway G.

In Fig. 4 I have represented a modified form of the lever connectionbetween the guideways and the connecting-rods, the leverage being thererepresented as obtained by means of vertical levers pivoted at theirlower ends below the base-plate and connected with the ends of straightlevers, which in the main correspond to the levers F F. It will beunderstood that the upper ends of these verti- IIO cal levers areadapted to be moved to operate the switch by the same means whichoperate the levers F F. V

\Vhile I have described the levers as operated by the grips, 1 would notbe understood as limiting the invention to this means for operatingthem, as they may be operated by any other part of the cars orprojections from them.

I prefer that the connecting-rods be made of gas or water pipe.

The operation of the invention has been described in connection with thedescription of its construction, and it is only necessary to briefly saythat each car which passes along the main track has means which areguided to a switch-controlling lever and with which in passing it isbrought into contact to move the switch, if it shall be necessary so todo, for the purpose of making the connection between the main track andthe branch upon which it is to pass, and that this movement of a switchbrings into position means by which the switch may be returned by thecar which carries the devices which are adapted to engage said means,the movement of the devices for turning the switch in one directionbringing into position the devices for moving it in a reverse direction.

Having thus fully described my invention, 1 claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States- 1. in a railway of the characterspecified, having a main track over which cars for differentdestinations pass, and branches for said cars, a switch connecting saidmain track with the branches, comprising two rails, the ends abuttingthe rails of the main track bearing constant relation therewith, formingthe pivots upon which they are moved, and their outer ends makingconnection either with the rails of the branch A or the rails of thebranch A a movable cross-bar connected with said switch-rails,rock-levers with which the ends of the cross-bar are connected,connecting-bars connecting the rock-levers with operating-levers, thesaid operating-levers being against the main-track section and eachhaving a section which alternately bears an operative relation to aportion of cars passing over said main track whereby the contact ofcertain cars with one of the levers will cause the switch to be turnedin one direction and the contact of other cars with the other lever willcause the switch to be turned in an opposite direction.

2. The combination ofa main-track section, branch sections andintermediate switching connection to connect the main-track section withone or the other of the branches, duplicate means for moving the carscommon to the main section but individual to a branch whereby cars whichare common to one branch only are also adapted to be moved over a maintrack common to both branches, guiding devices in said main track forguiding the connections between said cars and their respective actuatingdevices, levers extending into or across said guideways connected withthe switching-section of the track, the movement of one of which tooperate the switch leaves it in operative position and causes the otherto be moved from an inoperative to an operative position and which areoperated only by cars which require that the switch be shifted that theymay continue their connection with their individual actuating device.

3. The combination of a single base-plate of iron or steel, a section ofa main track laid upon it, a switching track-section adapted to connectthe main section with one or two branching sections, also laid upon saidplate, two car-drawing cables passing over said plate, one for eachbranch track, and adapted to draw the cars for that branch,switchoperat-ing devices mounted upon said plate, guiding devices alsomounted upon said plate for guiding the grips connecting the cars withsaid cables and for guiding the cables, and two switch-operating leversboth forming a part of the switching device, each of which is individualto a single guideway and is movable to and from the same by the cars ofone or the other branch line, according as may 5 erative position to beoperated by the cars of .100

the other branch.

JEREMIAH CAMPBELL.

\Vitnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, J. M. DOLAN.

